The turkey hunting salesman

By the Midland Daily News

Published 6:00 am, Monday, April 14, 2014

Want to hear a salesman for spring wild turkey hunting in Michigan? Listen to Al Stewart.

Turkey hunting, says the DNR’s upland gamebird specialist who has been a turkey hunter since the early 1970s, offers the best of waterfowl hunting (calling birds within range, adjusting to their behavior) and deer hunting (woodsmanship).

“It meshes the best of both of them - and then you do it in the spring, when everything is wonderful.”

He hunts turkeys “every chance I get.” He’s bagged the six-species world grand slam: four subspecies of turkeys in the United States (eastern, Merriam’s, Rio Grande, Osceola), and another each from Mexico (Gould’s) and Guatemala (Ocellated).

Stewart is also the only person in the world to have live-trapped all six.

Fresh from college, Stewart got in on the ground floor of Michigan spring turkey hunting in the early 1970s. Turkey calls were hard to find (he learned to make his own), knowledge just as scarce, and even things like camouflage clothing hard to find.

Stewart said he had brown and green military surplus suits, and his most elaborate use of them was wearing brown pants with a green top to better blend in with pines.

Burnt cork provided facial camouflage, but it was a challenge to remove.

Hunts were three to five days long. If you weren’t drawn in the lottery for a license, there were no second chances or over-the-counter options.

“Eighty percent of what you did was scouting,” said Stewart.

“If you saw a turkey track, that was the mother lode. If you heard a bird, ‘Wow, there’s turkeys here.’ It made your hunt. And if you came back the next morning and heard a (tom’s) gobble, that was a big deal.

“The next step was calling one in, and I was fortunate enough to do that a few times.”

Soon, Stewart was helping teach at hunter workshops, including one taught for several seasons at Meridian High School in Sanford. Turkey numbers and turkey hunting skyrocketed in tandem.

Within a generation (his and mine) of hunters, Stewart said, “The turkey has gone from a rare animal to one of abundance.”

Hunters today are more sophisticated, with better calls, shotguns, ammunition, camouflage and tactics.

What about turkeys? Are they sharper, harder to fool?

“Do they come to the call as well? I think so,” said Stewart. “Sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn’t, before.”

Stewart said he doesn’t think turkeys have changed their behavior because of hunting. “They live 18 months whether you hunt them or not.” They hear well and see well, and they’re fast. But they don’t seem to learn much, said Stewart.

Just maybe, you might be able to fool one.

When this turkey hunting salesman finishes his pitch, you’re likely to be buying a license.